AC: "...all of which
leaves the view from Kandahar one of a Taliban war
machine that shows no signs of slowing."
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Length: 5:55
LARGE (68.3 MB)
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The third AC360 report is a look at the
changes in Kandahar and the results of a recent
truck bombing (the location of yesterday's
piece for BackStory.) Michael also
tracks down some more old friends and gets their
views on the current situation.
(Read about Ahmed Wali Karzai in this
article written for Time in February
2002 and Astad Abdul Halim in this
article for Time from March
2002.)
ANDERSON
COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Michael Ware is in Kandahar for
us, where that standoff, that waiting game is deadly
serious. And Dr. Sanjay Gupta is with an elite army
chopper team, medics who fly low and fast under
hostile fire to save lives.
COOPER: The situation on the ground here in
Afghanistan is deteriorating. U.S. officials admit
that. The last two months have been the deadliest for
U.S. forces here. The Taliban has been on the move,
into areas traditionally they haven't even been in,
in the north and in the west.
The fight for Afghanistan is happening all across
this country. The city of Kandahar is a prime
example. It's a place where citizens are terrorized
by Taliban members, and where attacks are launched
against U.S. and NATO forces.
Michael Ware spent some time there recently. Take a
look at his report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How does that make
people feel here in Kandahar?
(voice-over): I wanted to see what had happened to
this place since I had left. Kandahar: it's the
birthplace of the Taliban and the capital of the
south, the fiercest combat zone. I once lived here,
before Iraq and after the fall of the Taliban.
(on camera): So much has changed here in Kandahar.
There's new buildings. There's new roads. There's new
tree lines. But there's also a new Taliban. There's a
Taliban here that wasn't here just a few years ago
and this city now lives in the shadow of the Taliban.
The Taliban control neighborhoods here. In fact, this
is a Taliban neighborhood. These police are from a
police station right in the midst of a Taliban
stronghold. They're very much on the front lines,
guarding the gates to Kandahar.
(voice-over): In fact, here in this marketplace, the
mood among shopkeepers is anxious. "Everyone in
Kandahar is saying the city is surrounded," this
businessman says. "There's something like 200 men
standing here. Go. Ask them -- is there Taliban or
not?"
Here, the sense of a city under siege goes much
deeper than just hurting business. Even here in the
city, you cannot speak out against the Taliban.
"Those who do speak up face a terrible conclusion,"
this shopkeeper says. I found, for many, these fears
are growing -- even though a major U.S. and Canadian
base is located at Kandahar's air field, just outside
the city limits -- their vehicles in the city
streets.
So for more answers, I turn to some old friends. One
is Ahmed Wali Karzai, brother to the Afghan president
and now patriarch and leader of the family's tribe.
AHMED WALI KARZAI, BROTHER OF HAMID KARZAI: Pockets
of Taliban, that's what it is. And it's not a major
force to I should be have a fear sitting here that
they might be -- come over to come attack us tonight.
This is merely now they're surrounding the city.
WARE: But it also seems those small pockets of
Taliban are turning to old and highly successful
tactics. They're using the same valleys, mountain
passes, and many of the same old commanders who
defeated the Soviet army.
This man, another old friend, was a guerrilla hero of
the war against the Soviets here. He's now head of a
massive tribe tied closely to the Taliban.
"The Taliban are walking in the steps of the
Mujahideen, who fought the Russians," he says. "If
the Taliban hear that the government is coming to an
area, they simply escape to a safe place to spend the
night."
And it's not just in the villages.
(on camera) Just one week ago, what's said to have
been a massive truck bomb detonated just here, right
in the heart of Kandahar city itself. On this side of
the road was the offices of an aid agency and houses.
You can see the blast absolutely leveled the
buildings. On that day, over 40 Afghan civilians lost
their lives.
And you can see the size of the blast. A week later,
they're still cleaning up.
On this side of the street were shops and businesses
and a reception hall for weddings. Convoys carrying
American trucks are passing by on this very street.
And as I'm standing here, speaking to you right now
in this devastation, just a few suburbs away, over
there, less than a mile, is a Taliban-controlled
district.
(voice-over) And local police commanders say there's
no hint of improvement. The major U.S. military
offensive in nearby Helmand province they say, is
killing Taliban fighters, but the Taliban keeps
evolving and finding new ways to wage war, all of
which leaves the view from Kandahar one of a Taliban
war machine that shows no signs of slowing.
(on camera) A Taliban war machine that's ever
growing, while the situation on the ground continues
to deteriorate. The country is in a national
political limbo. They don't even know who their
president is because of corruption allegations
plaguing the presidential election results.
And militarily, the American war plan is also in
limbo. The generals have to go back to D.C. They need
more troops. They need to look at how they're
fighting this war and they need to rethink it.
So all of this while the Taliban is growing stronger
is now all eyes on the White House. Is President
Obama ready to step up to fight this war -- Anderson.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Yes, and a classified strategy assessment has
been given by General Stanley McChrystal to President
Obama for him to look at. Very likely in the coming
months, or maybe even weeks, there may be a request
for increased U.S. forces here in the country. We'll
have more from Michael Ware throughout the
week.